Art Historical Research In Ghana: Reflections On The State And Direction Of Scholarship

Abstract

This essay is my reflections on the history and present state of the art-historical scholarship about Ghanaian art, both indigenous and contemporary. While it highlights the significant milestones achieved over the last century, it also points to the shortcomings that call into question some fundamental assumptions that have long framed the study of the two artistic genres. The paper also addresses the current stagnation in the academic study of the traditional arts. By outlining the separate trajectories of the historical and modern art genres, I seek to identify areas of convergence and alternative paths for future research that will help to foster a meaningful dialog between the two branches of Ghanaian art history.

Keywords:

• Akan arts
• Akan-centrism
• Antubam
• archeology
• art making
• crafts
• Kyerematen
• modern Ghanaian art
• visual-verbal

Notes

1 Ross, Doran H. “The Art of Osei Bonsu.” African Arts 17 (2), 1984: 28–90. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3336219. Ross’ ongoing research on Osei Bonsu has the potential to expand our understanding of the links between modern and indigenous art in Ghana, since the highly regarded traditional sculptor also taught wood sculpting at Achimota School, the first art school.

2 In fairness to the authors of Cole and Ross, they based their catalog on art that was available to them at the time, primarily collectible art that were in American and European public and private collections.

3 As an artistic medium, ivory was not indigenous to the region as there was a religious restriction against its use within certain quarters. Still, Ewes were familiar with ivory because, for centuries, ivory from the northern interior passed through their territory to European traders on the Atlantic coast.

4 Asamany ordered machinery from Germany to augment his woodworking and carpentry business in the 1930s. Aninakwa left behind a neatly preserved cache of photographs and two cameras.

5 Interview with George Ntiri, Professor of Sociology, Wayne State University, Detroit. October 18, 2019.

6 Interview with Professor George Ntiri, ibid.

7 The fact that Asamany's students adopted his record-keeping approach should indicate the research potential of this body of knowledge. I saw and documented Jonathan Adri’s notebooks and that of Anku Anyinam, a third-generation ivory carver. The practice is widespread as I discovered to my delight among woodcarvers in the southeastern Ghana who recorded their commissions, not in written English but written Ewe.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nii O. Quarcoopome

Nii O. Quarcoopome ([email protected]) received his doctorate in Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles (1993), specializing in the arts of the Ga, Dangme, and Ewe peoples (Ghana and Togo). He has taught at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and worked as a curator at the Newark Museum (2000–2002) and the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) where he is the department head of Africa, Oceania, and Indigenous Americas. Quarcoopome has received fellowships from the Getty Research Institute, Smithsonian Institution, National Endowment of the Arts, and the National Endowment of the Humanities. He is also a recipient of the American Association of Museums’ honors and Detroit City’s Mayoral Proclamation and Council Resolution for his 2010 groundbreaking exhibition “Through African Eyes: The European in African Art, 1500-Present.”